Competitive Pleasure: Sexuality, Media and Belonging in a Reunifying Germany (1989-1995)

Abstract

After the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9 th , 1989, the process towards the Reunification of East and West Germany became referred to as a matter of "political orgasm," "German-German copulation" or "an orgiastic party." Behind these colourful metaphors, residents of the two states (in particular, those of East Germany) contended with momentous shifts in identity, mobility and political ideology that interacted with public sexual values and culture. This thesis analyzes media-based primary sources, including magazines, newspapers, and tabloids as well as memoirs and televised broadcasts, to argue that sex and sexuality became a significant public matrix for complex processes of inclusion, exclusion and meaning making during the transition to a reunified Germany and beyond. In doing so, this thesis engages with relationships between consumerism and public space, memory politics, and the sexual/racial "Other".iii AcknowledgementsMy heartfelt gratitude goes out to my supervisor, Dr. Jennifer Evans, who generously inspired, pushed and championed me throughout my graduate degree. I would also like to thank Dr. Susan Whitney for her enthusiasm towards my project and belief in my abilities. Thank you to Dr. Paul Nelles for providing a supportive environment within the program, as well as Dr. James Casteel for his insightful questions during my thesis defence. I am grateful also to the Carleton History Department for funding my travel to archives in Berlin in March 2022, without which this project would not have been possible. To Ona, my departmental twin, I am so happy to have met & been on this wild ride with you. I am lucky enough to have extended my degree to Fall 2022, introducing me to many other of Jen's students (new and old) -to Declan, Noë, and others, thank you for showing up at the very end, believing in me immediately, and making everything better. Thank you to the archivists and volunteers of the Schwules Museum and Spinnboden Lesbenarchiv for their assistance, and in particular the wonderful staff at the FFBIZ and the Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv for their welcoming kindness and wealth of material. I would also like to thank Bodil, my Berlin roommate, who kept me grounded in a time of major turbulence. This journey started before I came to Carleton -I am endlessly grateful to Dr. Christabelle Sethna and Dr. Agatha Schwartz, without whom I would have never discovered my passion for German histories of gender & sexuality as well as my own capabilities as a researcher. Thank you also to my lovely family for their consistent support and faith in me (even when they didn't really know what I was up to). Danke Mom & Papa -ohne euch und meine wunderbare Kindheit in Deutschland hätte ich nie so etwas unternehmen können. iv I would like to acknowledge that this research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, as well as by internal awards offered by Carleton University and its History Department. And to my darling Steph -Thank you for inspiring me to do something this fun, and...